Lawsuit threatened over drainage pipe

Friday

Aug 24, 2012 at 2:00 AM

Saying the Town of Barnstable is responsible for contaminated discharges in violation of the federal Clean Water Act, a West Barnstable couple presented the town with a notice of intent to sue last week.

W. Barnstable man: Town’s violating Clean Water Act

Saying the Town of Barnstable is responsible for contaminated discharges in violation of the federal Clean Water Act, a West Barnstable couple presented the town with a notice of intent to sue last week.

Patrick Page and his wife, Jane Saunders, sent a four-page letter via registered mail to Town Manager Tom Lynch and Town Council President Fred Chirigotis.

Town Attorney Ruth Weil acknowledged that the letter was received, but was still reviewing its contents.

In a press conference held at the Rectrix Aerodrome Center at Barnstable Municipal Airport Aug. 22, Page, supported by Gary Lopez of Centerville and John Julius of Hyannis, outlined the planned suit. Page and Lopez traded turns, and occasional words with one another, presenting information they believe supports a case under the Clean Water Act and also an award of damages for Page and his wife.

Page is representing himself at this stage, but Lopez said there’s a possibility that an attorney could be found within the 60-day notification period.

At the heart of the planned suit is a drainage system that flows through Page’s property via a 1927 easement between a previous owner and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Page contends that the original easement covered a section of Route 6A from Route 132 to his property. In the intervening years, drainage for the state-owned Route 132 and town-owned Oak Street were added, but without an expansion of the easement.

Page believes that makes those connections illegal and informed the state in June, and again recently, that he has reclaimed that easement.

The drainage ditch runs from Page’s property to Barnstable Harbor, which he said is a direct discharge to navigable waters of the United States, subject to the Clean Water Act.

Page said a sample was taken from water from the drainage pipe on his property and tested by EnviroTech Laboratories in Sandwich. Results distributed at the press conference show high levels of various forms of contamination and the notation, “Results appear to be impacted by septic water."

Both Lopez and Page suggest that the source of that septic contamination is the YMCA on Route 132, although they did not provide direct proof.

They allege that runoff from the YMCA is making its way onto Route 132 and into the drainage system that empties into the easement on Page’s property. The land on which the YMCA’s West Barnstable facility sits is leased from the Town of Barnstable, which Page believes makes the town a responsible party.

Page has long contended that runoff from the YMCA, especially during an expansion project approved in 2006 under a hardship exemption by the Cape Cod Commission as a project of community benefit, has made its way through the drainage system and onto his property.

The envisioned suit is expected to be complex, and the ultimate course it would take was not entirely clear. In a phone conversation Aug. 23, Page said that the intent is to file suit in the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts under the civilian enforcement provisions of the Clean Water Act. Page expects that other Constitutional issues, including his right to free speech, and illegal land taking under the 5th Amendment, will be included in the complaint.

In June, Page blocked the 15-inch drainpipe with a series of manmade plugs and then by cementing the end shut. In a heavy rain July 31, Route 6A flooded, making it impassable. Page said that he unblocked the pipe in good faith that his issues would be addressed, but he said there has been no attempt to do so.

At the press conference, and again at the Barnstable Old King’s Highway Historic District Committee meeting later that night, Page threatened to do it again.

“If I have to plug up that pipe again... I will and I won't unplug it,” he said at the press conference.

The day after the flooding, Julius addressed the town council during the opening public comment session, presenting a bottle of blackish water he said was from the pipe draining through Page’s property.

Page believes he and his family have been harmed by the contaminants running through the pipe. He said his wife has breast cancer, and though he can’t prove it, he believes the private well that supplies his house has something to do with it. Asked about his well, Page said that he has not had it tested for contaminants.

The town has maintained that the issues related to the drainage pipe are between Page and the state, not the town.

Page has also contended that the town has been engaged in a conspiracy against him over his desired development of a parcel he owns on Buttonwood Lane. Over the last six years, Page has appeared before the town council and numerous town boards seeking answers to his claims of malicious behavior against him on the part of town employees.

On several occasions Page has been led away from those meetings by the Barnstable Police Department, and he is presently trespassed against entering town hall and the regulatory offices at 200 Main St. by an order from Lynch. The town hall order came after Page’s March 15 arrest at a Barnstable Town Council meeting for disorderly conduct. A September court date is set in that case.

Representing himself in a previous case brought by the town against him, Page won an acquittal after 15 minutes of jury deliberation.

Referring to a set of town officials, Page said, “You've got something to worry about, and I'm coming.”

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